


taking the pain away

by triggeringthehealing (froggydarren)



Series: FullmoonFiclet Entries [32]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Canon Major Character Death mention, Canon-Typical Violence, Established Derek Hale/Stiles Stilinski, M/M, Major Character Injury, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-05-09
Updated: 2016-05-09
Packaged: 2018-06-07 09:19:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6798142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/froggydarren/pseuds/triggeringthehealing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The obvious thought is the werewolf pain leeching power. That is what he’d expect to think of when someone asks about a touch that’s healing. But when the topic is brought up at the meeting of the packs -- <i>no, Stiles, you can’t call it a convention, this isn’t cosplay and fanboying</i> -- that’s not where Derek’s mind drifts.</p>
            </blockquote>





	taking the pain away

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [Full Moon Ficlet](http://fullmoon-ficlet.livejournal.com/393471.html) challenge on Livejournal - prompt #171: healing touch

The obvious thought is the werewolf pain leeching power. That is what he’d expect to think of when someone asks about a touch that’s healing. But when the topic is brought up at the meeting of the packs --  _ no, Stiles, you can’t call it a convention, this isn’t cosplay and fanboying _ \-- that’s not where Derek’s mind drifts. 

Sure, he’s aware of the way that particular ability has helped before, in more ways than one. He knows how it helped Isaac to feel useful -- he’s since the pack’s go-to guy for that -- and how it saved some of the humans when dealing with the pain that accompanied their injuries would’ve drained energy necessary for them to survive. It is, if Derek had to rank his werewolf abilities, one of the most useful and important things that come with being a shifter. 

But when the words are said in the discussion of said abilities, Derek doesn’t think of his veins darkening when he pulled pain out of Stiles’ arm after an omega broke it. He doesn’t flash back to the time he had to take breaks and switch with Scott to take the Sheriff’s pain when visiting hunters’ bad aim resulted in enough bullets to cause John’s retirement from active force. He doesn’t even think of how that ability failed to relieve Isaac or Stiles’ anxiety attacks, since there was no physical pain to drain to help them breathe. 

No, he thinks of the hand on his shoulder when Boyd’s body lay slumped on the floor in front of him. He feels the ghost of a touch when he walked away from Cora and left her in Stiles’ care. Derek is thinking of long fingers grazing his cheek when Stiles got drunk at the loft and spent an hour just looking at Derek’s face, touching the lines that were new to him after Derek’s long absence from Beacon Hills. He thinks of the hug he woke up to the morning after, Stiles’ long limbs wrapped around Derek’s body. 

It’s healing in ways different than the physical relief that his werewolf ability brings. Stiles’ touch brushes over scars that no one can see, the ones that Derek doesn’t talk about. 

“Hey, sourwolf,” Stiles whispers, but it’s the tap of his fingers against Derek’s thigh that pulls Derek back to reality and to the conversation. “Come on, let’s get some air.” 

Stiles’ hand is palm up, waiting for Derek to slide his own hand into it, fingers lacing like they’ve been made to be that way. At the first contact of their skin, Derek knows that it’s this touch that puts him back together whenever he loses himself, pulls away pain that he’s carried with him for years. And he might never be healed completely, but it’s Stiles’ touch that will always hold him together. 

**Author's Note:**

>   
> [my tumblr](http://froggydarren.tumblr.com/) || [my sterek fic tumblr](http://triggeringthehealing.tumblr.com/)  
> 


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